4A NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 25, 2009
LAWRENCE
Group hopes to educate public about Palestine
BY DAVID UGARTE
dugarte@kansan.com
Voices for Palestine, a student organization, is holding a series of events called "Take a Stance" beginning today to educate the public about the Israeli occupation in Palestine.
The film follows young Palestinians living in the West Bank, Gaza and inside Israel as they discover hip-hop and use it to overcome challenges of occupation and poverty.
"We hope that the film and the
**WHAT:** "Enter the Intifada: Colonization and Resistance from California to Palestine"
**WHEN:** 12:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.
and 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. today
**WHERE:** Kansas Room on the sixth level of the Kansas Union
'TAKE A STANCE'EVENTS
activists giving the presentations will give people an idea of the positive resistance to the occupation that takes place all across Palestine on a daily basis," Anderson said.
"Take a Stance" will end Thursday night with a screening of the grassroots documentary "Slingshot Hip-Hop," which was a 2008 Sundance Film Festival Selection.
WHAT: "Making the
Hip-Hop Indianous Peoples Project, a student group at Haskell, is helping put on "Take a Stance."
Joshua Anderson, Perry junior and president of Voices for Palestine, said the group would hold two sessions of a multimedia workshop called "Enter the Intifada:Colonization &Resistance from California to Palestine." The workshops coincide with events held Thursday at Haskell Indian Nations University.
**WHAT:** "Making the Connections" panel discussions led by American Indian Studies Students
**WHEN:** 11 a.m. to 4:45 p.m.
**Thursday**
**WHERE:** Stidham Union, Haskell Campus
The workshops today and Thursday include hip-hop videos and lyrics, theater exercises, discussion, digital stories and documentary footage.
"Take a Stance' provides the opportunity for dialogue and learning about a topic that greatly affects the United States and indigenous nations, and certainly one in which the U.S. plays a great deal of influence," said Julia Good Fox, founder of HIP.
Fox, a faculty member at Haskell, said she founded HIP after she returned from a 2008 trip to Israel. She said the mission of the group was to strengthen and
WHAT: Hip Hop Panel: Savage Family with Ras K'Dee on the 1's and 2's
WHEN: 5 p.m. to 6 p.m.
Thursday
WHERE: Stidham Union, Haskell Campus
"Take a Stance" will also include a performance by Savage Family, a politically conscious hip-hop group. The group will perform Thursday at 5 p.m. at Haskell's Stidham Union.
**WHAT:** 'Slingshot Hip-Hop'
Screening
**WHEN:** 7:30 to 9:30 p.m.
tomorrow
**WHERE:** Haskell Indian Nations
University Audit
Ora Wise, associate producer of "Slingshot Hip-Hop," contacted Fox last fall about collaborating on
Melissa Franklin. Haskell junior and American Indian Studies major, has been with HIP since January and is coordinating
the events.
"We also want to highlight the issues of human rights and sovereignty in the two regions while promoting artistic, intelligent, creative and educational solutions to the challenges that confront the ideas of dignity and self-determination with regards to a peoples' right to their land," Fox said.
develop a bond between indigenous and Palestinian peoples through socially conscious hiphop and related artistic and educational media.
"This is a solution-based event that provides a positive message of survival," Franklin said. "It has been an honor to coordinate such a big project and I just hope to take away a better understanding of the struggles of Palestinian peoples and witness their personal survival and perseverance through such atrocities."
Franklin said the events that were taking place in Palestine and Israel had parallels to what happened to the American Indians in the U.S.
"Take a Starce" and will be a guest speaker at the event.
Wise currently works as education director for the Palestine Education Project to develop curriculum materials for using the film in youth organizing and education.
The Palestine Education Project was created to engage students in critical thinking about the culture, history and current living conditions of Palestinians and Israelis.
"We are coming to KU and Haskell to connect with indigenous students and their allies in order to build partnerships between those struggling for self-determination and land sovereignty in this
country and in Palestine." Wise said.
Anderson founded Voices for Palestine in the spring of 2008. He said he started the group to do something about the Israeli occupation in which people were killed or forced to live in despair. Anderson said he called the group Voices for Palestine because of the lack of voices speaking out on behalf of Palestinians.
"Our aim is to present a side of the narrative that isn't present in the media in the U.S. and let the people make up their own minds." Anderson said.
HOUSING
- Edited by Brandy Entsminger
RoomBug offers new way to find roommates
BY MICOLE ARONOWITZ maronowitz.kansan.com
maronowitz@kansan.com
Selling your couch, adding friends or sending pieces of flair are all norms on Facebook. But now students use the social networking site to find a roommate.
The University of Kansas has joined Florida State University, the University of Central Florida and the University of Florida on the new RoomBug application on Facebook. RoomBug has also added several other universities to its application.
application was different from the normal process of applying for a residence hall and being paired with an unknown roommate. He said the difference was that it was a matching utility. Zdebski said students could choose lifestyle preferences for their ideal roommate, including neatness, whether they were more academically or socially focused and what time they like to go to bed.
Peter Zdebski, marketing associate at RoomBug, said the
Scott Smith, Lawrence sophomore said he would add the application to his Facebook page.
"It sounds, in theory, like it would work great," Smith said.
"There are also others out there like MySpace that could utilize this."
Going potluck can be a risk for students. RoomBug is an alternative to the stress that it can bring.
"If you go with something like RoomBug you can provide your schedule so that you and your matches can get a hold of each other and work out a time to meet and see if you are compatible," Smith said.
Jennifer Wamelinck, associate director for residence life, said most residence hall roommate matches were successful. She said currently there were about 3,600
students living in the residence halls. She said a majority chose to mutually request their roommates on their contracts. Students can mutually request to live together when they sign housing contracts, but there is no guarantee that they will room together.
RoomBug was started in 2007 by Michael Hacker, who is currently the CEO. Zdebski said Hacker thought that because students were going to Facebook to look up their assigned roommate, they should bring them there directly to choose their roommate.
- Edited by Grant Treaster
PRESENTS CONCERT READINGS OF FOUR NEW ONE-ACT PLAYS BY K.U. STUDENTS
AND YOU GET TO PICK THE WINNING BABIES IN THIS FINAL FOUR!
7:30 PM Friday March 27:
Vote for "The Tragedy of Empty Streets" by AJ Matthews or Eli Touched, Whitney Ginned"by Brett Runyon
2:30 PM Sunday March 29: The two winning babies get paired in one final showdown! Directed by Paul Stephen Lim
Vote for "Cheeseburger Nation" by Brian Highberger or "The Importance of Conversation in a Monologue" by Joe Scott
7:30 PM Saturday March 28:
ADMISSION FREE!
Lawrence Arts Center 9th & New Hampshire
Peaceful anniversary
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Serb children release piglets, as a symbol of peace, just outside Serb-dominated part of ethically divided town of Kosovska Mitrovica, in Kosovo Tuesday. It was the 10th anniversary of the start of NATOs bombing, as officials denounced the attacks that killed more than 3,000 people.
March 26. 5 p.m.
March 26. 2:30-4 p.m.
PANEL DISCUSSION Climate Change at the Poles. Spencer Museum of Art w/DJ Spooky and other guest speakers. Co-sponsor Spencer Museum of Art
DJ Spoopy presentation & book signing.
Oread Books, Kansas Union, Level 2.
Cosponsor: Oread Books, division of KU
Bookstores
$5 TICKETS FOR KU STUDENTS'
REGULAR PRICE $24
A MULTIMEDIA EVENT FEATURING DJ SPOOKY'S ORIGINAL ANTARCTIC FIELD RECORDINGS.
LIED CENTER OF KANSAS
785-864-2787
lied.ku.edu
---
---